‘From the formal to the innovative’: The use of case studies and sustainable projects in developing a design process model for educating product/industrial designers

The BSc in computer aided product design (CAPD) course at the University of Wolverhampton was conceived as a collaborative venture in 1989 between the School of Engineering and the School of Art and Design. The award was at the forefront of forging interdisciplinary collaboration at undergraduate level in the field of product design. It has integrated engineering design from the former with industrial design from the latter, developing a mixture of traditional, technical and design skills using the computer.

The current paper discusses the use of formal methods of delivery on the CAPD course together with the integration of industrial product design and engineering design from a case study and project approach. It progresses from a formal approach through a transitional stage to an innovative method of delivery and assessment.

In providing the framework to this innovative approach the paper utilizes examples of students’ case studies, projects and design competitions that rely upon the use of three-dimensional (3D modelling) and both traditional prototyping and rapid prototyping techniques in developing the product design artefact. Combined with this is the utilization of a design process model that combines both product design and industrial design methodologies.

The changing attitude of staff in the education of CAPD students, with respect to the integration of formal methods and innovative methods in case study and project scenarios, is also discussed.     

Mycorrhizoremediation an enhanced form of phytoremediation

Study of plant roots and the diversity of soil micro biota, such as bacteria, fungi and microfauna associated with them, is important for understanding the ecological complexities between diverse plants, microbes, soil and climates and their role in phytoremediation of contaminated soils. The arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi （AMF） are universal and ubiquitous rhizosphere mi- croflora forming symbiosis with plant roots and acting as biofertilizers, bioprotactants, and biodegraders. In addition to AMF, soils also contain various antagonistic and beneficial bacteria such as root pathogens, plant growth promoting rhizobacteria including free-living and symbiotic N-fixers, and mycorrhiza helping bacteria. Their potential role in phytoremediation of heavy metal （HM） contaminated soils and water is becoming evident although there is need to completely understand the ecological complexities of the plant-microbe-soil interactions and their better exploitation as consortia in remediation strategies employed for contaminated soils. These multitrophic root microbial associations deserve multi-disciplinary investigations using molecular, biochemical, and physiological techniques. Ecosystem restoration of heavy metal contaminated soils practices need to incorporate microbial biotechnology research and development. This review highlights the ecological complexity and diversity of plant-microbe-soil combinations, particularly AM and provides an overview on the recent developments in this area. It also discusses the role AMF play in phytorestoration of HM contaminated soils, i.e. mycorrhizoremediation.     

Evaluation and comparison of 50 Hz current threshold of electrocutaneous sensations using different methods

Leakage currents, tiny currents flowing from an everyday-life appliance through the body to the ground, can cause a non-adequate perception （called electrocutaneous sensation, ECS） or even pain and should be avoided. Safety standards for low-frequency range are based on experimental results of current thresholds of electrocutaneous sensations, which however show a wide range between about 50 pA （rms） and 1000 μA （rms）. In order to be able to explain these differences, the perception threshold was measured repeatedly in experiments with test persons under identical experimental setup, but by means of different methods （measuring strategies）, namely： direct adjustment, classical threshold as amperage of 50% perception probability, and confidence rating procedure of signal detection theory. The current is injected using a I cm2 electrode at the highly touch sensitive part of the index fingertip. These investigations show for the first time that the threshold of electrocutaneous sensations is influenced both by adaptation to the non-adequate stimulus and individual, emotional factors. Theretbre, classical methods, on which the majority of the safety investigations are based, cannot be used to determine a leakage current threshold. The confidence rating procedure of the modem signal detection theory yields a value of 179.5 μA （rms） at 50 Hz power supply net frequency as the lower end of the 95% confidence range considering the variance in the investigated group. This value is expected to be free of adaptation influences, and is distinctly lower than the European limits and supports the stricter regulations of Canada and USA.     

Study of cellulolytic soil fungi and two nova species and new medium

This study is aimed at identifying and determining the percentage of occurrence frequency of cellulose decomposing soil fungi. The soil samples were inoculated into culture plates prepared in Sabouraud medium under sterilized conditions and incubated at 30 ℃ for 4 to 7 d. The identified fungal species were incubated in self-designed cellulose medium for testing their cellulolytic ability. Forty-two species, including2 nova species, representing sixteen genera showed growth and sporulation in the cellulose medium. Most of the isolated species were from genus Aspergillus and Penicillium. Aspergillus niger and Mucor hiemalis showed highest occurrence frequency （45% and 36% respectively）, as these species were collected from about 80% of soil samples. Being agar free and cheaper, the new fungal medium designed showed results equivalent to Sabouraud medium.     

Effects of preexposure and retention interval placement on latent inhibition and perceptual learning in a choice-maze discrimination task

In two experiments, we examined how preexposure to discriminative stimuli and introduction of a 21-day retention interval affected the latent inhibition (LI) and perceptual learning (PL) of rats in a choice-maze discrimination task. Experimental groups were preexposed to three wall patterns, one in each of three arms of a maze. Control groups were preexposed only to white arms. PL groups were trained to discriminate A versus B, and LI groups, to discriminate A or B versus C. The A and B patterns shared many elements not shared with the C pattern. In Experiment 1, both at the end of training and after the subsequent retention interval, the PL groups performed better than controls, whereas the LI groups performed worse. In Experiment 2, inserting the 21-day retention interval between preexposure and discrimination training disrupted final measures of LI but not PL performance. Implications for current concepts of PL and LI are discussed.     

Age-related incidence curve of hospitalized Shaken Baby Syndrome cases: convergent evidence for crying as a trigger to shaking

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether there is an age-specific incidence of hospitalized cases of Shaken Baby Syndrome (SBS) that has similar properties to the previously reported "normal crying curve," as a form of indirect evidence that crying is an important stimulus for SBS. DESIGN AND SETTING: The study analyzed cases of Shaken Baby Syndrome by age at hospitalization from hospital discharge data for California hospitals from October 1996 through December 2000. PATIENTS: All cases of children less than 18 months (78 weeks) of age for whom the diagnostic code for Shaken Baby Syndrome (995.55) in the International Classification of Disease, Ninth Edition, Clinical Modification was assigned. RESULTS: There were 273 hospitalizations for SBS. Like the "normal crying curve," the curve of age-specific incidence starts at 2-3 weeks, has a clear peak, and declines to baseline by about 36 weeks of age. In contrast to the normal crying curve that peaks at 5-6 weeks, the peak of SBS hospitalizations occurs at 10-13 weeks. CONCLUSIONS: The age-specific incidence curve of hospitalized SBS cases has a similar starting point and shape to the previously reported normal crying curve but the peak occurs about 4-6 weeks later. Of the likely predisposing causes, this pattern is only consistent with the properties of early crying. There are numerous explanations for the lag in the peaks between crying and SBS hospitalizations, including the possibility of repeat shakings prior to hospitalization. The importance of crying as a stimulus to SBS may provide an opportunity for preventive intervention.     

Information literacy and library attitudes of occupational therapy students

Information literacy, often described as a person's ability to effectively find and evaluate answers to questions using a variety of information resources, is of particular importance to health care workers. This paper presents the results of an information literacy survey presented to occupational therapy (OT) students at Thomas Jefferson University during a series of required class activities. Also described are the authors' activities with the faculty and courses at Jefferson. The survey was made available to first-, second-, third-, and fourth-year occupational therapy students along with nursing students and pharmacy students. The survey is designed to identify research habits, skills, and preferences. Results confirm some commonly held perceptions about searching skills of young adults and an interesting dichotomy in students' learning habits. The paper concludes with a discussion of recommendations to OT faculty and librarians on how to improve information literacy education. The survey can be obtained by contacting the authors.     

Modeling of intelligent agent interactions for multiagent systems

The experience gained in the development of the system of simulation modeling of intelligent agent interaction (SMIAI) is described. It is based on the general model of agent interaction proposed by G.V. Rybina, who developed the works on intelligent dialog systems, including the well-known Popov’s communication model, in the late 1990s. The goal of SMIAI is to validate the applicability of the proposed models, methods, and algorithms of intelligent agent interactions and their architecture in developing MAS prototypes for different problem areas. The SMIAI architecture, support means for simulation experiments, transmission and processing of messages, and other components are considered. Realized MAS prototypes for several applications are presented as examples. The models of local, thematic, and global dialog structure for intelligent agents are presented and the problems of intelligent agent communications behavior formation are analyzed. The creation of the models under consideration by means of G2 and Microsoft Visual Studio is described.     

Independent force and position control for cooperating manipulators

The problem of independent force and position control of multitask cooperating manipulators is studied. Each manipulator is in a non-singular configuration and the object can be driven by the contact forces exerted by the end effectors of the manipulators. The design requirement is to control each coordinate of the position of the object as well as each component of the “rest” forces, except the moving forces that are determined uniquely from the object's position. The present design requirement has been proved to be always satisfied together with asymptotic and BIBO stability. A class of controllers solving the above simultaneous problem is analytically determined. The proposed state feedback controller does not depend upon the specific object dynamics and thus the resulting closed-loop multimanipulator system performs as required, not only when handling various objects but also when the dynamics of the objects are unknown or hard to compute or disturbed by external forces.